I'm Like a Bird
by Hanna Cabrodi
Summary: Their being together can only be accredited to divine favor. Her fear is overtaking her and wants her to fly away but will his love let her? Songfic/One-shot


**_Hiya! Once again, Hanna Cabrodi here! I like to write when I feel even an inkling of inspiration. And I had listened to this song earlier today and as I analyzed the lyrics, I felt that they were particularly appropriate for Arnold and Helga's specific love story. Plus I love me some Nelly Furtado classics, if they could even be called classics, anyway! HAHA! Point is, I was caught in a writing "heat of the moment" if you will. In this scenario, TJM isn't really referenced and neither is the great "FTi scene" of The Hey Arnold Movie. It's just lovey dovey stuff between them so be easy on me!_**

**_Pardon me if the story seems a bit messy but like I said, this was a "heat of the moment" thing!_**

**__****_*P.S.: This will probably be the only songfic that will have the actual song as the title. I couldn't think of anything else so WHAT. EVAAAAAAAAAAAA!*_**

**_DISCLAIMER: Arnold, Helga and all the other super duper, awesome, amazing and INCREDIBLE characters from Hey Arnold belong to Nickelodeon. They NEED give em back to Craig so he can make the doggone JUNGLE MOVIE's what they NEED to do -_-'. OH! And "I'm Like a Bird" is by Nelly Furtado. Whatever record company produced this song w/ her owns it. DON'T. SUE. __ME!_**

**_And again, I give the credit for any kind of writing talent I may have to the Lord. :)_**

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_**I'm Like a Bird**_

_It's funny how things in the world just seem to fall into place ever so carefully. It's practically the evidence we have just to know that there's a living God. That's what I think, anyways. In fact, that's what I KNOW. _

_At three years old, I met and fell in love with the first person who ever showed me care and kindness. You'd think it'd be preposterous to believe that a three-year old toddler could grasp the mature concept that is love. But it's not. The way I felt about him that first day at Urban Tots Preschool I still feel to this day. His ways, his outlook on life and his "look-on-the-bright-side" philosophy drew me into him like a magnetic force. And it's probably because I'd never known ways like his before. Not in MY house anyway._

_So, yes, it IS strange how pieces to the never-ending jigsaw puzzle we call life fall ever so carefully into place. Someone like me, a girl who's been scarred with hurtful words, lived in a broken home, has a self-esteem lower than the deepest trench in the ocean and used brute force to earn what could barely be described as respect was meticulously and divinely planned to end up with a young man with an oddly shaped head who'd been raised by his loving grandparents in a boarding house full of what can only be described as a bunch of nut jobs while his own parents, whose humanitarian ways were CLEARLY passed on to their son, were in the hidden jungles of a Central American country fighting to cure a deadly illness that was plaguing its indigenous people. And I can only say this was divinely planned because if Someone beyond our existence here on Earth didn't make it so that two of most unlikely people in the world would fall in love, I can assure you that Arnold and I would most certainly not be together. In fact, we probably would've never met. And I would have never known good in my life._

_I can't begin to explain what this boy did to me... He gave me hope. He showed me a foreign concept. Kindness and understanding wasn't exactly a native language in the Pataki home unless it was for the firstborn, apparently. I was ignored. I was unappreciated. I seemed almost... unwanted. I can't begin to describe what it was like being a TODDLER and having your parents ignore their youngest child by ignorantly letting her walk to her first day of preschool on the stormiest day of the year ALONE while they listened to their 15-year-old "prodigy" play the Minute Waltz on the piano. It was just... inhuman._

_So as I sit here on my bed, counting down the days to the day my betrothed, my beloved, my Arnold, becomes my lawfully wedded husband, I can't help but be a little worried. Next Saturday is to be the greatest day of my life. It is the day that our love will be sealed and consummated. I often find myself scared of that day. I wonder whether I would chicken out and call it off out of fear of returning to my old ways but God and Arnold's unconditional and immense love for me have held me in place up until now. And what's better about all of this is that Arnold believes in me. He's always seen past my butch-like exterior and has always known the true me that lied within. And when he'd whisper the words "I love you" in my ears like the sweet caress of a rose petal, I would melt in ecstasy but would slowly drown myself in doubt wondering when I'd wake up from this dream. But it's real._

_All of this is real. And it TERRIFIES me._

_Often times, I wanted to leave. I began to believe that I wasn't good enough for him, wasn't worthy of his love, his kindness, his heart. But he'd stop me. He'd remind me why he fell in love with me in the first place. He wasn't asking for a goody-two-shoes Lila type with Phoebe's intelligence and Ruth McDougal's looks. He wanted me. The unibrowed, pigtail-wearing, pink-bowed girl from P.S. 118. Sure, I've improved my appearance a bit more but I did it more for me than for him. I no longer sport the unibrow and my pigtails are now long tresses of golden silk that run towards the small of my back. 'Course, that's how Arnold describes my hair. But I still wear that bow. The same bow that drew his attention back in preschool. Only now, I wear it as a headband instead of a garnish! And he even changed physically too! Not only is he taller than me, he has become quite well-built and ditched his once irresistible and unruly locks for a slicked back look that I find INCREDIBLY sexy. It compliments his sensible green eyes and mesmerizes me so._

_So, anyway, constant doubting and questioning lead me to write a song on my guitar for him. I figured I'd use all the angst and put it good use. In fact, he's on his way over here and I'm about to surprise him with it. He deserves to know how I feel. And he's a great listener. He tells me time and time again that he genuinely enjoys listening to what I have to say because my voice... intoxicates him? He's the cheesiest football head I've never known... and I love him. I'm madly in love with him. But he needs to know what's in my heart._

*knock**knock*

_OH, CRAP! HE'S HERE! Okay, okay, let me just grab my guitar and as soon as he walks in I'll start playing. _

The door opens and as soon as he walks in, he hears Helga's guitar begin to strum an unfamiliar tune. She looked directly into his eyes and began to sing.

_**You're beautiful, that's for sure**_

_**You'll never ever fade**_

Arnold watched her with his loving green eyes and smiled as she sang her song with her sultry and soulful voice.

_**You're lovely but it's not for sure**_

_**That I won't ever change**_

_**And though my love is rare**_

_**Though my love is true**_

She slowly empowered herself and took full advantage of her gifted vocal chords as she confidently belched out the chorus.

_**I'm like a bird, I'll only fly away**_

_**I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is **_

_**(and baby all I need for you to know is)**_

_**I'm like a bird, I'll only fly away**_

_**I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is**_

_**All I need for you to know is**_

He had closed the door behind him and stood in front of her bed, his eyes slowly fogging up with tears as he listened to her heartfelt lyrics. He felt as though he was listening to her heart, directly.

_**Your faith in me brings me to tears**_

_**Even after all these years**_

_**And it pains me so much to tell**_

_**That you don't know me that well**_

_**And though my love is rare**_

_**Though my love is true**_

_"Baby, I know you more than you think," _he thought to himself.

_**I'm like a bird, I'll only fly away**_

_**I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is **_

_**(and baby all I need for you to know is)**_

_**I'm like a bird, I'll only fly away**_

_**I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is**_

_**All I need for you to know is**_

"_He has to know how I feel so here goes nothin'," _she told herself as she sang the next part.

_**It's not that I wanna say goodbye**_

_**It's just that every time you try to tell me that you love me**_

_**Each and every single day I know **_

_**I'm going to have to eventually give you away**_

_**And though my love is rare**_

_**And though my love is true**_

_**Hey I'm just scared**_

_**That we may fall through**_

Arnold internalized this verse thoroughly and sat down on her bed next to her and looked deep into her ocean blue eyes. _"She feels... lost?" _He noticed tears forming her own yes and began to wipe them away as she concluded her song with the chorus.

_**I'm like a bird, I'll only fly away**_

_**I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is **_

_**(and baby all I need for you to know is)**_

_**I'm like a bird, I'll only fly away**_

_**I don't know where my soul is, I don't know where my home is**_

_**All I need for you to know is...**_

The room was filled with silence for just a moment. "Helga, can I tell you something." She nodded weakly. "When we first started dating, I was a bit apprehensive myself. I didn't know where all of this would lead. But we've been going strong for all these years and my love has only gotten stronger. I know in my heart that I made no mistake asking you to marry me. You've had me hooked since day one, though I failed to realize it until many years later and I fully intend on spending the rest of my life with the cute little girl with the pink bow from Urban Tots Preschool. Helga, I LOVE YOU. I won't let you go. I won't allow myself to let you go. This is a "for life" deal, got it?"

She giggled and smiled at him. "I love you too, Football Head." He took her in his arms and tenderly kissed each other's longing lips with the joy and love they've come to share for the past few years.

_Oh, yeah. DEFINITELY divinely planned._

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_**Sooooooo? Wadja think? I'm not so crazy about it but I don't HATE it. Be honest and kindly leave a review. PLEASE! I LOVE REVIEWS! PLEASE! I LOVE REVIEWS LIKE CHOCOLATE BOY LOVES... WELL.. CHOCOLATE! AHHHHHHHH! **  
_

_**GBY!**_

_**-Hanna Cabrodi**_


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